Judge Allows Service Via Email in 'BluMedia v SOBV'

DENVER—U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch has granted a Motion for Alternative Service by plaintiff BluMedia in Bluemedia v Sordid Ones BV et al, a trademark infringement lawsuit filed earlier this year in Colorado.

BluMedia, which operates the Intense Cash affiliate program and sites that include BrokeStraightBoys.com and BrokeStraightGuys.com, sued SOBV, DeeCash and their various DBAs on April 1, 2011, alleging they marketed and sold website memberships "under the domains www.brokeassboys.com and www.realbrokeboys.com that incorporate and use the Broke Straight Boys trade dress, terms, and even markets itself to consumers using [an] identical offer of $1.00 trial membership followed by recurring regular membership..."

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The current Order of the court was issued Aug. 4 and reads in part, "Plaintiff BluMedia Inc. is... permitted to serve the summons and complaint in the above-captioned case via email on Defendants Sordid Ones BV dba Gaygravy.com, and DeeCash dba TripleXCash and dba TripleXCash.com and dba MitZasInc.com and DeeDevelopments.com, AdultDevelopments.com and StudPay.com." The Order also listed specific email addresses for the defendants that were to be used by the plaintiff.

The Order was acted upon promptly. In a Certificate of Service filed with the court Aug. 8, BluMedia attorney Chad Belville declared that on Sunday, Aug 7, he "served the Defendants via email in accordance with the Order by sending a PDF copy of Complaint and Summons..."

In April, Belville told AVN that the current lawsuit stems from a previous trademark infringement action filed in 2010 against SOBV, before the program was sold to DeeCash.

"Belville said that he had gotten all of SOBV’s websites locked by the registrar previous to the sale," reported AVN at the time. "DeeCash, he said, was unable to transfer the domains following the sale because of the registrar lock, and continues to operate them... Belville added that SOBV had evaded being served, and indicated that DeeCash had thus far declined to do anything about the pending suit."